Germany

BERLIN, April 16. /TASS/: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received the first component of AstraZeneca’s anti-coronavirus jab, German Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert reported on his Twitter page on Friday.

The statement quotes the chancellor: "Today, I received the first shot of the AstraZeneca drug. Thank you to everyone who works on the inoculation campaign and who participates in it. Vaccination is the key to overcoming the pandemic."

(Reuters) --- German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged lawmakers on Friday to approve new powers that would allow her to force coronavirus lockdowns and curfews on areas with high infection rates, saying a majority of Germans were in favour of stricter measures.

"The third wave of the pandemic has our country firmly in its grip," said Merkel, whose speech in parliament was interrupted by heckling from lawmakers of the far-right Alternative for Germany party opposed to lockdowns.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Euro zone citizens expect the European Central Bank’s proposed digital euro to be private, safe and cheap, a survey showed on Wednesday, as the ECB warned that any launch was still several years away.

The ECB is studying an electronic form of cash to complement banknotes and coins in a bid to stem competition from cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Tether and Facebook’s proposed Diem.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she was keeping out of a debate in her conservative bloc over whether Christian Democrat party chairman Armin Laschet or Bavarian premier Markus Soeder should be the candidate to succeed her.

“I wanted to, want to and will stay out of it,” Merkel told reporters when asked if she feared the struggle between Laschet and Soeder could damage their conservative alliance so much that they lose the chancellery after a Sept. 26 federal election.

BERLIN (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday that he is expanding the U.S. military presence in Germany by 500 troops, suggesting he will not carry out a Trump administration order to withdraw thousands of them.

“This planned increase in U.S. personnel underscores our commitment to Germany and the entire NATO alliance,” Austin said in a notable counterpoint to the Trump administration’s repeated complaints that Germany is a weak partner on defense and security.

BERLIN (AP) — Nearly a year after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of troops to leave Germany, capping a series of setbacks for U.S. relations with major allies, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began an inaugural tour of Europe to shore up partnerships that are a cornerstone of the post-World War II order.

BERLIN (Reuters) -The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, who wants to be their next candidate for chancellor in a September election, said on Sunday the party should make their choice of candidate very soon.

Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Laschet lags behind Markus Soeder, head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), in opinion polls, but enjoys the support of some powerful state premiers.

BERLIN (Reuters) - European Council President Charles Michel is suffering from bad nights due to his embarrassment over a seating arrangement incident at a meeting in Ankara this week, he told German newspaper Handelsblatt.

Ursula Von der Leyen, the first female president of the European Commission, expressed surprise and raised a hand in disbelief when she found Michel had taken the only chair available next to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the talks.

In the episode, caught on camera, she ended up being relegated to a sofa, further away.

BERLIN, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Germany would amend its infection protection act to "regulate on a nationwide basis" what restrictions would apply when local seven-day COVID-19 incidence exceeded 100 per 100,000 citizens, deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer said Friday.

Demmer told a press conference that it was not yet clear how quickly the change in the law would be implemented, but it would be done "as quickly as possible."

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded in a phone call with President Vladimir Putin that Russia unwind its recent military build-up in the area around eastern Ukraine, the German government said in a statement on Thursday.

Merkel also raised the case of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is currently ill in a Russian penal colony and who is demanding access to independent medical advice.